How does time management affect my health?

For many adults, sleep is often the first thing to be sacrificed during a busy or stressful time. While many students and professionals do this regularly, going without sleep so that you can accomplish more often backfires. You may complete all of your tasks, but your overall performance will likely be decreased.

Proper time management, however, may prevent this. Busy working parents and adults must strike a balance between family obligations, work obligations, play, downtime and sleep. It may be difficult, but getting enough rest each night should help you to be more productive and make the most of your time during the day.

Making regular sleep a priority might even improve your ability to manage your time. Research indicates that sleep is necessary for learning. Periods of sleep allow the brain to consolidate newly learned information, not only making sense of the day's events, but also making room in the mind for more information to be gathered in the future. Sleep is necessary for the brain to perform optimally. Without adequate sleep, you are more prone to stress, making it more difficult to focus on important goals and tasks [source: University of Georgia Health Center].

Your ability to manage time can directly affect your health. Develop a plan to manage your time and stick to it. Your body and mind will feel better because of it.

To learn more about time management and how it relates to health, check out the links on the next page.

Drinking and Sleep Deprivation

Severe sleep deprivation can cause someone to display symptoms similar to those of being drunk. Some research has shown that people who have not slept in 17 or more hours and attempt to drive behave much like a drunk driver, with slowed reaction times and impaired judgment [source: CNN].